Contributors

Record and film producer Joe Boyd was born in Boston in 1942 and graduated from Harvard in 1964. He went on to produce Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, REM and many others. He produced the documentary Jimi Hendrix and the film Scandal. In 1980 he started Hannibal Records and ran it for 20 years. Boyd lives in London where he writes for the Guardian and Independent. His next book is about World Music.

Alexander Boxer has a doctorate in physics from MIT, a master's degree in the History of Science from Oxford and a bachelors in Classical Language from Yale. His technical research has appeared in journals such as Nature Physics. He currently works as a senior scientist at a small technology company just outside of Washington, DC. In his spare time, he is an active member of Atlas Obscura as a D.C.-based 'field agent'.

Drew Boyd spent 17 years at Johnson & Johnson, and is now Executive Director of the Master of Science in Marketing Program and Assistant Professor of Marketing and Innovation at the University of Cincinnati.

Adrien Bosc was born in Avignon in 1986. He is the founder of Éditions du sous-sol and the magazines Desports and Feuilleton, and works in Paris as a publisher. In 2014, he received the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie Française for his first novel Constellation.

Camille Bordas is the author of three prize-winning novels. The most recent, How to Behave in a Crowd, was the first she wrote in English. The earlier two, Partie Commune and Les Treize Desserts, were written in her native French. Her short stories regularly appear in the New Yorker. Born in France, raised in Mexico City and Paris, she currently lives in Chicago.

Percy Boomer became a professional golfer in 1896. He won tournaments throughout the 1920s (including the Belgian, Swiss and Dutch Opens) while he was the golf professional at the famous international club at Saint-Cloud, outside Paris, for twenty-seven years. Afterwards he taught at the Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire and died in 1949. He has been inducted into the Golf Teacher Hall of Fame.

Sandra Blakeslee is a science correspondent at the New York Times.

Michael Blastland was born in Glasgow. A journalist all his professional life, he started on weekly newspapers before moving to the BBC where he makes current affairs programmes for Radio 4, such as Analysis, More or Less and the historical series Why Did We Do That? He lives in Hertfordshire, often with his daughter Cait, less often and less quietly with his son Joe, when he's at home.

Susan Block is an American sex therapist, author, filmmaker, cable TV talk show host, and cultural commentator. She is perhaps best known for her television specials on HBO. She is the founder and director of The Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences.

Jo Boaler is Professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford University and was recently chosen by the BBC as one of the eight people 'whose ideas are challenging the future of education'. She has previously taught at King's College, London, the University of Sussex and London comprehensive schools. She is the co-founder of Youcubed.org, which provides mathematics education resources to parents and teachers.

Born in Romford, Pauline Black is a singer and actress who gained fame as the lead singer of seminal 2-tone band The Selecter. After the band split in 1982, Black developed an acting career in television and theatre, appearing in dramas such as The Vice, The Bill, Hearts and Minds and 2000 Acres of Sky. She won the 1991 Time Out award for Best Actress, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the play All or Nothing At All.